GQ: Eric Wind Quoted on Million Dollar Watches
GQ Recently wrote ‘Million-Dollar Watches Are Absolutely Booming. Here's Why’. Within the article, Cam Wolf quotes Eric Wind.
Dealer Eric Wind, founder of Wind Vintage, notes that when he was working at Christie’s a decade ago, selling a watch for more than a million dollars was—at the time—a dream for the auction house. “That was a huge deal,” says Wind. “We were always hunting for it.” History was made when Christie’s sold its first million-dollar piece in 2017: a sapphire prototype of a Richard Mille RM 056.
There are also more ultra-wealthy watch collectors than ever. “Watch collecting really has become mainstream,” Boutros says. For this group of deep-pocketed enthusiasts, parking money in collectibles like art and watches feels like a safe bet, especially with an economy this wobbly. However, Wind cautions that this market optimism doesn’t flow that well downstream, and that watches are in danger of becoming even more exclusive, or worse: a pure asset class rather than a hobbyist’s passion. “It's not all roses,” he says. “There are actually fewer bidders now than five years ago. The people at the top of the pyramid have almost endless resources. They view watches as cool and good collectibles, and as having momentum in the market.”